The Fine Line Between
by Mary Grace Kim
Summary: I know Yu-Gi-Oh fans like my older brother would appreciate being transported to their fandom through a broken customized TV, but I don't. And yet, I was the one who was transported! I almost died from an accident I didn't know happened, a white-haired crazy Egyptian started residing inside my mind, and everyone is misreading my name! What more could happen? [eventual SKxOC]
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh and other things related to the real world. I only own the story and the Seo siblings.

* * *

_**The Fine Line Between**_

**Chapter 1**

_It was then the first day of Battle City._

_Yugi Mutou was walking in a mini park on top of a building, looking around as if finding something._

_"My starting point is here... Kaiba-kun should broadcast the opening ceremony soon. How do you Duel at places like these? [1]" he wondered, as there were quite a lot of people, mostly families enjoying their stay on what could also look like a small amusement park._

_Then a deep, cool voice of a man emanated on the air..._

_"My fellow Duelists, welcome to the Battle City! [1]"_

No, it was not a flashback, nor it was really happening. It was the sound of my older brother, Young-woong, watching the 56th episode of Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, most likely in subtitles since the audio was in Japanese.

Unfortunately, I could hear it as I was walking on the 3rd floor corridor of the building where we have been renting an apartment. It was only 6:45 in the evening on a Tuesday.

Tuesday is the only day where I get to go home really early. Classes at Shindong High School, where I am in my final year, end early on that day due to weekly faculty meetings. It is also the only day where I am not required to attend cram school and where I get to take a break from studying _very hard_, which has always been a part of a typical schedule of a high school student thanks to our national college scholastic ability test. Given these circumstances, somehow most people think I should be looking forward to my early way home.

However, I was even deprived of the minimal break time that I could only have. I could have used the early arrival time to watch my favorite variety show _Hello Counselor_, but then a few months ago some idiot from a cable TV network decided to do reruns of Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters on their channel at the _same timeslot_ as Hello Counselor. This really annoyed me, given that _oppa _[2] happened to be a hardcore, beyond obsessed fan of Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters. I hated Yu-Gi-Oh in the first place and I had been really sick of him forcing me to it to the point that I wanted to send a letter expressing this concern to Hello Counselor.

As I opened the door to our apartment, the sound of the 56th episode came into full blast, almost breaking my eardrums. I saw part of _oppa_ seated in the floor, intently watching the show, but then I saw more of our LCD television, broadcasting the 56th episode of Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters. He might not have even heard that I already arrived home. Rolling my eyes and sighing, I took a few steps to the entryway and locked the door behind me. I removed my sneakers and placed them on the shoe rack beside me before entering the living room.

True enough, he did not hear me arrive, as he still watches that anime show in high volume. Neither did he notice me sit on the sofa behind him and readjust the bright orange muffler that I had been wearing. I noticed the remote control lying on the floor beside him, unguarded. I smiled mischievously, suddenly having a good idea of what to do.

Taking advantage of his inattention to his surroundings, as silently and as stealthily as I can, I took the remote control and went back to where I was seated. _Oppa_ must not have noticed as his attention is still on the TV.

Remote on hand, I waited for a while, letting the guy with the deep, cool voice finish his babbling. I guess it was something about the rules of some game. I'm not exactly sure. Despite the presence of subtitles, I still somehow could not understand what he was really talking about. I eventually found out that the owner of that deep, cool voice is a good-looking guy with short brown hair and blue eyes.

_"Now, the Battle City will begin! Duelists, scatter across the city and locate your enemies! [1]" he announced, officially starting the Battle City tournament._

Right after that statement, I changed the channel. _Hello Counselor_ is currently on air, in the middle of discussion about a concern. That feeling of triumph was refreshing for me.

I can see _oppa_ seething in anger even though his back is facing me. I tried ignoring it, clutching the remote control.

"Young-hye... how dare you..." _Oppa_ said as he turned around and faced me. He might have looked like he is ready to kill me, but that does not faze me even a bit. I looked back at him, trying to match his threatening gaze.

"_Oppa_, I have the right to watch TV too," I said. I'm not just going to back down.

Without saying anything, he simply snatched the remote control and flipped back to the cable channel where he was watching Yu-Gi-Oh. He returns to his position as if nothing happened.

This infuriated me more than ever.

"Hey!" I yelled in the loudest way possible. I kicked him hard on his shoulder from behind, causing him to fall over the floor and keel in pain. I tried to snatch the remote control away from him, but it turns out that he had applied a death grip on it, making it difficult for me to take it away from him.

We fought over the ownership of the remote control, both of us holding it tightly on each side. It was like a messy mix of tug-of-war, wrestling, and mixed martial arts.

"_Oppa!_ Why the hell won't you just let me watch?" I shouted at him in a loud voice, not only because I was really mad him but also I had to struggle to make myself be heard over the still loud sound coming from the TV.

"Dream on, Young-hye! There's no way you'll make meskip this awesome show!" He also shouted at me, and I could see that he was equally struggling against the high volume of TV, which is his fault to start with.

"You idiot! You can watch this over the Internet!" I retorted.

"Subtitles suck!"

What the hell.

"It's not a valid excuse to deprive me of my free time you crazy bastard of a brother!" I stood up and pulled the remote control towards me. As he won't let go, the struggle continued.

But then in the middle of the struggle, he suddenly decided to let go of the remote control, but not before using all his force and energy trying to throw me along with it. Thinking of my survival first, I also let go of the remote control. It came flying towards the TV, breaking the LCD screen. Our home became quiet all of a sudden. Turns out that it also muted at the same time.

We both turned to the just broken 40-inch LCD TV, with a glass crack where the remote control had collided, the screen started showing bars of different colors and emitted purple electric sparks. I suddenly had a weird feeling about the purple electric sparks.

_Oppa_ then started blaming me. "Look at what you've done! This is all your fault!"

"What the hell?! And now you have the nerve to blame me for damaging it?! Don't you dare tell me you did not _blow up_ that TV for your experiment!"

I saw _oppa_'s expression change to a sour one. I'm pretty much sure I hit a nerve somewhere. Ever since he saw his future as an electronics engineer, he suddenly dedicated himself to "blow up" (my own term for disassembling stuff that function normally and reassembling them with customized parts that came from who knows where) most of the appliances and gadgets at home. My mobile phone even became a victim of it. For three months, my friends had no choice but to send me SNS messages instead (and I have no choice but to either find a cafe with Wi-Fi connection or depend on my school's Wi-Fi). Our mom, currently working overseas, bought me an iPhone as a replacement. Though really thankful for that, I would have preferred that _oppa_ replace my phone instead since he was the one who destroyed it anyway.

_Oppa_ remained quiet, unable to fight back and looking guilty.

"I knew it." I muttered.

"So what if I did?!" _Oppa_ suddenly yelled at me as if I am the only deaf person in the country.

"Dammit! For everyone's sake you've just let the TV be, idiot!" I also yelled at him with equal intensity, mainly as retaliation to the near damage his shouting has brought to my eardrums.

I returned to the sofa to pick up my bag. It was on that moment that I decided to walk out on him. As I was about to leave, I inadvertently checked out the TV. My utmost anger replaced with horror as I saw what was once purple electric sparks had already developed into large purple lightning bolts, ready to strike and knock someone down. As his back was the one facing the TV, _oppa_ did not know of this and of the damage that it could cause.

Despite being angry with him, my sisterly instincts quickly took over me. The purple lightning seemed ready to battle, or rather, ready to strike down an unaware being.

By instinct, I quickly pushed _oppa_ on the side to safety. Sure, it may have been rough, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Everything happened instantly. The purple lightning bolt struck the tallest being that it can find (which happened to be me), and before I knew it I already lost consciousness.

...

_Seo Young-woong was enraged when his sister Young-hye suddenly pushed him on the side. His eyes were closed due to pain. _Who the hell would do that_, he thought. As he was nursing the pain emanating from his backside, he opened his eyes._

_He became beyond horrified as the first thing he saw was Young-hye being struck by the purple lightning from the broken LCD TV._

"_Young-hye!" he called out. "Young-hye! Look out!"_

_But then it was too late for him to say that. As he realized this, he then tried to stand up and rush to his sister despite the pain. _

_However, before he can even manage to stand, a blinding light suddenly surrounded the whole interior of the apartment, forcing him to cover his eyes._

_The light disappeared in the same way as how it came._

_Young-woong opened his eyes, only to see a living room without Young-hye._

"_Young-hye? Where the hell did that girl go?" he wondered aloud as he finally managed to stand up. _

_He walked towards the living room. He checked out the broken TV. The multi-colored bars already disappeared, rendering a blank black screen, but the crack still remained. He saw Young-hye's bag still there at the floor. He also checked the entryway and saw the sneakers that she usually wears in school still in the rack. He quickly checked her room (despite it being off-limits to everyone) located a few steps away from the living room, andfound it empty._

_He started worrying, realizing that Young-hye might have not taken off after all. As he returned to the living room, the TV screen suddenly flickered, emitting white noise in a low volume, which surprised him._

_The screen started showing another episode of Yu-Gi-Oh. It was the part of the 72nd episode wherein Anzu Mazaki helped out Mokuba Kaiba in escaping the warehouse where the Ghouls held them._

_Young-woong wondered about the sudden episode jump, as he remembered watching the 56th episode of the same show just a while ago. Unless the idiot behind the Yu-Gi-Oh reruns made an embarrassing mistake... otherwise it would be too weird. _

_He carefully watches the episode as he always does, remembering every scene by heart: _Mokuba managing to get out of the top window of the warehouse, Anzu falling down along with some of the Ghouls amidst the pile of boxes, Mokuba hiding temporarily for safety from the other Ghouls trying to find him and then runs his way out...

_Everything happened accordingly, but what really surprised him was the next scene._

_Young-woong knows that it was supposed to return to the continuation of the skyscraper duel, but instead it showed Mokuba running as far as possible from the pier to get help until the latter reached the more crowded part of the city. As shown on the TV screen, Mokuba suddenly spots one of the Ghouls chasing him, and to avoid being spotted, he crossed the street. However, because of such urgency, he was not able to see a speeding truck that was about to hit him._

_Despite being the spectator and having no direct connection to the scene itself, Young-woong can't help but call out to Mokuba, "Look out!"_

_Mokuba looked at his side (as if he heard Young-woong but that was not the case) and saw the truck moving forward to him like a raging bull. Given the speed, it looked like it was too late for Mokuba to run to his safety._

_But it was not this scene itself that shocked Young-woong the most._

_He saw a black vortex appear on the side out of nowhere, "spitting out" what looked like an unconscious teenage girl with long wavy black hair and dressed in a school uniform with a bright orange muffler on her neck. The projectile force that came along with the teenage girl was enough to, albeit unintentionally, push Mokuba to the opposite sidewalk where he was supposed to go. _

_The teenage girl was able to push Mokuba to the opposite sidewalk, bringing the latter to safety. Though surprised, Mokuba felt relieved that he was safe. Wanting to see his savior, he tried to regain his composure and stood up as immediately as possible. However, it was not the sight that he expected to see._

_Despite the strong projectile force, the short time was only enough to push Mokuba to safety. The truck collided with the teenage girl instead, sending her flying forward towards the street, her head hitting the cold cement. Blood oozed freely from her head. Passers-by slowly gathered to see the commotion. The Ghoul who had been chasing Mokuba was already gone._

_Mokuba, horrified, rushed towards the teenage girl, trying to help out the person who saved him. _

_It was that way that Young-woong was able to see who she was. But then, just like Mokuba, he became horrified as he finally came to know her identity._

It can't be_, he thought. He couldn't believe it. The uncanny resemblance despite being an animated drawing, the uniform and bright orange muffler being an exact copy, and the name on the small rectangular name plate attached on the right side of her blazer (that he was able to read)..._

_He hung his head low, blaming himself at the same time as he admitted to "blowing up" the LCD TV. He kicked the TV, shutting it off immediately and leading it to its further demise._

_To be honest, he didn't really want to believe it, but there was no other evidence that would deny the fact that the teenage girl happened to be his sister._

...

The first thing I felt was pain.

It was everywhere: on my head and all over my body. At first, I couldn't remember what happened... ah, yes, I was struck by a lightning bolt.

And in the middle of all this pain, it did not definitely help that the first thing that I would hear was Kim Jong-kook's song _Loveable_ playing in the background. Yes, I was addicted to the cheerful song to the point that I created a mini-dance for it, but the fact that it made me suddenly want to dance to it despite the pain was something else.

I slowly opened my eyes, cautious just in case I would encounter bright light.

It was just the opposite: the environment was mostly dark, but I could make out a wooden desk with some school things placed on top, a cabinet, an orange fruit plushie, posters of pop groups like Apink, 2PM, Sistar, EXO...

This just looks like my room... Wait, it's just my room!

I know that being in my room should be reassuring enough, but why do I feel paranoid?

As I want to see whether I'm really in my room or somewhere else, I tried sitting up and turning my head around. I was able to, but I have to endure the pain. Meanwhile, Kim Jong-kook's song was about to end in a while.

Right after the song ended, I suddenly heard someone speak in a language I could not understand. I turned to the direction of the voice. It was from a white-haired, purple-eyed, tan-skinned guy who was about my age, seated on a chair nearby the iPod speaker dock where I usually play my favorite music. He was wearing a white sleeveless shirt, black pants, and shoes, which freaked me out because it was still winter in our country (doesn't he get cold?). And why the hell does he wear shoes inside the house, let alone inside my room?

His presence made me angry. Not only that I hate having people inside my room; I also hate people touching my stuff without my permission. The white-haired guy just plainly did that.

But then he also crept me out, especially that he's technically a two-dimensional being... a _drawing_, in a sense.

And then he looked familiar, but I'm not exactly sure...

Anyway, I opted to remain silent, observing my environment and trying to figure out what's happening. The white-haired guy proceeded to say something else, still in a language I couldn't understand.

I tried interrupting him in a quite nice way. "I'm sorry. I can't understand what you're saying..."

However, it did not work. He kept on speaking, and I tried telling him that I could not understand what he was saying. At the first few tries, I spoke in Korean, my native language, but as he didn't stop, I thought he might have not understood and thus, I tried English. Either way, the idiot simply didn't listen and continued pacing around without looking at me, rambling away. My patience was already running thin at a dangerously high rate, to the point of...

"Dammit! Can't you just fucking speak English?" I practically yelled at the top of my lungs, agitated and irritated.

He stopped and faced me.

I stood up quickly from the bed without giving any damn care to the shooting pains all over my body. In fact, the pain even powered my irritation to this crazy idiot.

"I keep on telling you in a nice way that I don't speak your language and can't understand you, yet you won't even listen! Do I have to keep yelling like this?" I maintained my agitated high-volume voice. "Who the hell are you, anyway?"

He finally spoke in English. "Figures," he said, more to himself than to me, "the Millennium Rod's power didn't affect you the way it's supposed to be..."

Ah, so you're still ignoring me? Thank you for further thinning my patience.

"Aren't you going to answer my question, arrogant idiot?" I yelled again. I really didn't want to do this because it also hurt my throat in the process but if this white-haired crazy bastard still wouldn't answer my question then I would have to break his skull.

He looked at me in the eye and raised his hands to chest level with his palms open, as if surrendering.

"I'm sorry," he said (in English), "things have been crazy outside. My dark personality already took over and I have no choice but to take refuge here. It's really complicated but I'll do my best to fill you in the details later. I assumed you can speak Japanese because of your looks..."

_You assumed I can speak Japanese because of what I looked like? _Where the hell did you get that idea? I don't have any Japanese blood whatsoever and no one _ever_ told me that I look like a Japanese.

And, really, I'm waiting for your answer to my question.

"...so I kept on speaking Japanese. Anyway, my name is Marik Ishtar from Egypt."

Finally. Why does it have to take me ages before I can get an answer to my simple question?

Thank god I don't have to yell anymore.

"That song was catchy, by the way. That's one of the things I've been trying to tell you a while ago. Too bad I couldn't understand its lyrics," he added.

I took note of his comment about Kim Jong-kook's song but chose not to respond about it. I slowly nodded instead.

"Marik, isn't it..." I said in my normal voice.

Why does his name sound so familiar?

Anyway, I continued, trying to ignore the fact that Marik took my sketchbook from the desk, ripped a page of it, and got a fine point permanent marker on my pencil jar, all without my permission. "Alright, got it. Nice to meet you. My name is-"

"Hanae Nishi. I know your name. You don't have to tell me." With all confidence, Marik interrupted me.

"Hanae Nishi"? _Hanae Nishi_? You know my name and it's Hanae Nishi, you say?

Is this white-haired crazy bastard a total idiot? Who the hell was that "Hanae Nishi" and how did that become my name?

I was really shocked and irritated, and I made sure I showed it. I also did an incredulous stare for added effect.

Marik wrote something on the ripped page of my sketchbook. He raised the paper enough for me to see what's written on the paper, which happened to be these three Chinese characters: **西英恵**.

"Isn't this your name?" he asked.

"Yes, it's indeed my name. That's how my name is written in Chinese characters, but for god's sake there's no way it could be a _Hanae Nishi_." I explained, exasperated.

"But that's how everyone calls you," he said, putting down the paper on my desk.

Everyone, you said? Who is "everyone"?

"They said that's how these characters is read in their own language. At least Yugi Mutou and his set of friends do, anyway," he continued.

_Yugi Mutou_?

I sighed and shook my head, really annoyed. Seriously, they had misread my name and I think because of them everyone else would be doing the same. Oh my goodness.

"Oh my god, you're really something, aren't you?" I gushed in sarcastic amazement. "So, Marik, you're going to actually believe that Yugi Mutou and his friends instead of-"

Wait, _that_ Yugi Mutou?

I stopped speaking as this thought suddenly sprouted in my mind. The sentence that I was supposed to continue vanished.

Now I remember... Yugi Mutou and this white-haired crazy bastard in front of me whose name is Marik Ishtar...

Realizing what this actually meant, I pinched the bridge of my nose with my thumb and index finger and looked up as if stopping a nosebleed.

"Oh my god... Oh my god oh my god," I kept on muttering the same phrase over and over.

I can't believe it.

Could I actually be in my older brother's fandom?

But then, if I am in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, why am I here in my room?

Or is this why _everything_ is two-dimensional?

What did I do to deserve this?

"Are you okay?" asked Marik. Preoccupied with the too many sudden realizations, I ignored him.

Still looking up and holding the bridge of my nose, I walked towards the mirror with difficulty as pain all over my body had not yet subsided. I took a deep breath and braced myself.

I then brought my head down to its normal position and released the bridge of my nose. I faced the mirror in eye level. The sight that the mirror reflected horrified me.

Facing me is an equally horrified two-dimensional teenage girl with long wavy black hair (and a straight fringe), fair skin, and blue sharp-looking eyes, wearing a school uniform with a small rectangular name plate (with my name on it) attached on the right side of the blazer and a bright orange muffler on her neck.

I lifted my hands and touched my face. The two-dimensional teenage girl on the reflection did the same.

This was where I realized that me being transported to the Yu-Gi-Oh world happened.

I screamed.

Since I scream _really_ loud, I won't wonder if Marik already covered his ears.

I turned from the mirror and faced him. Marik looked back at me. (Figures, he did cover his ears.)

He removed his hands from his ears. He looked like he is bracing himself for something.

"Okay, Marik," I said, "may I tell and ask you something?"

He nodded as if he has no choice.

I took a deep breath and cleared my throat. This is it.

"For your information, Marik Ishtar," I started in my calm and normal voice, then in my most agitated and loudest voice possible: "my name is Young-hye! _Seo Young-hye_! Not _Hanae Nishi_! And can you just fucking tell me where the hell I am right now and how did I get here?!"

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Footnotes:  
[1] = Since I watch and follow the original Japanese ones, these were taken from the GX_ST English subs of the series.  
[2] = "Oppa" is how a woman calls her older brother in Korean

A/N: This story is inspired by an old Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's fanfic that I wrote (and eventually deleted). I'd also like to hear/read your thoughts on the story or this chapter so please do leave a review. Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh and other things related to the real world. I only own the story and the Seo siblings.

A/N: I apologize if ever I made Marik way out of character. I'm still studying about him as a character and I do admit that I'm having difficulty finding useful resources. Anyhow, if you have any suggestions on how I could make Marik in character or other thoughts about this chapter, please do leave a review. Thank you so much. Your reviews are and will be greatly appreciated. Now on with the story.

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_**The Fine Line Between  
**_

**Chapter 2**

Never had I been this agitated in my life.

Ever since this white-haired, purple-eyed crazy bastard going by the name of Marik suddenly appeared in what's now a two-dimensional version of my room, it felt like the goddess of good luck left me with all the problems the universe could think of. In my mind, there are lots of questions, unanswered ones. In context, those are really simple, but why do I have to undergo the trouble of getting them answered?

Especially right now.

It might have been due to shock (how the hell would I know what's going on inside his brain), but the idiot chose to zip his mouth at this important moment.

I sighed, utterly frustrated.

I know I haven't asked him very nicely and that I haven't been nice to him since he came here, but hell, he is not the only one with a "complicated" case! My body is aching all over and I don't know why. Before that, a purple lightning bolt from a blown-up LCD TV struck me and I had a huge fight with my older brother who won't even let me watch my favorite TV show! My patience has been running out on dangerous levels.

"Is my question that difficult to answer? Or do I have to yell again in case your eardrums got busted?" I asked him, almost whispering. I was just hoping that he wouldn't give me a reason to yell. My throat felt sore from all the screaming and if I have to do it again, I might not be able to speak right after.

Marik took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Hanae-" he started but as soon as I heard him say _Hanae_, I immediately cut him off.

"Call me Hanae once more and I'll definitely break your skull to pieces. I swear." I threatened him.

Good thing Marik has perceived how serious I am. "Okay, I'm sorry, _Young-hye_. It's really complicated and to tell you the truth, I don't know how I would be able to explain this to you. Right now… we're both inside your mind."

Err... what?

I looked at him unbelievingly.

I'm having trouble digesting this tidbit.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"We are in the only room inside your mind. You might be alive here, but the truth is… you're actually in a coma."

"A _coma_?" I was beyond surprised.

Marik nodded gravely. "I didn't see what actually happened to you, so I couldn't confirm the truth. From what I've heard, you saved Seto Kaiba's little brother from a speeding truck, but the truck collided with you instead. You were then brought in the hospital… in the ICU. I'd say you're practically on the fine line between life and death…"

What? I'm almost dying from an accident I didn't even know happened? Just how much power this purple lightning bolt had to knock me off?

And who the hell are Seto Kaiba and his little brother?

"Apparently," he continued, "the little brother might have developed some sort of an attachment to you and doesn't want to leave you alone in the hospital. I have no idea how much convincing it has taken, but despite your critical condition you were taken out of the hospital and gone aboard the Battle Ship. Right now, you are in a special medical room where your unconscious body is laid down in a hospital bed and connected to all sorts of hospital equipment."

I started pinching again the bridge of my nose, trying to process this heavy information.

"I'm really sorry. I know it's very complicated..." For some reason I couldn't comprehend, Marik started apologizing quite profusely.

"Knock it off, Marik. I'm fine. So, next question," I said, releasing the bridge of my nose.

I realized that he forgot to answer the question of how I ended up here in my two-dimensional room... or maybe rather the more appropriate question of how I ended up _here in their world_, but then if I tell them that they're only fiction in the world I came from (i.e. _our real world_) then it might lead to further complications. I've had enough of complicated things, so I decided to not push this further and just ask another question instead.

(Besides, even if I asked him, there's no way he'd be able to know.)

"How did you get here... inside my mind?" I took out the last phrase quite hesitantly as I still had no idea whether to buy or not to buy the idea of what the location he said it was.

Marik took a deep breath.

I guess I have to brace myself on what he's about to say.

"Through the power of the Millennium Rod, I secretly implanted a part of me inside your brain, just right before the start of the first game of the Battle City Quarter Finals," he started in such a way similar to how one starts reading a fairy tale book.

_Battle City_? What kind of tournament is that?

What the hell is a Millennium Rod and how does it work?

"I actually intended to take over your mind and to control your body just like what I did to Yugi Mutou's friends," he continued, "but then for a reason I have yet to find out, I found out that the Millennium Rod's power didn't affect you the way it should be. It won't even let me take over your body. The Rod brought me instead somewhere else and I ended up here in this room. After Rishid lost consciousness, my evil self finally awakened and took over my body. My older sister, through the Millennium Necklace, had already known that this would happen. Despite the huge risk, she used the power of the Millennium Necklace to hide my soul inside you..."

Wait, so you implanted a part of yourself in my brain and did the same thing to Yugi Mutou's friends?

"What the hell! Are you Voldemort? [1]" I exclaimed.

Never had I been this flabbergasted, too.

He ignored my statement, obviously. Either he chose to ignore it or he didn't understand what I was making reference to.

"I'm sure that this evil being is looking for me right now. That is why I'm taking refuge in your room because my sister probably considered this place to be the safest. I don't really know the reasons behind this but I trust her enough. And also, you gave me the first impression of being a kind and understanding person so I thought we'd somehow get along well."

Get along well, you say? ...like, seriously?

Okay, I'm not really getting the hang of this. Let me try sorting this out...

So first, Marik actually intended to use my body as a puppet? Are you fucking kidding me?

Second, Marik here is actually the Dr. Jekyll and the Mr. Hyde version of himself is chasing him. Through some sort of a necklace, he manages to find my room and take refuge here, right? And he actually took the liberty of touching my stuff without my permission. Such a meddling moronic crazy bastard, though I might forgive him a bit as he also liked Kim Jong-kook's song in the same way I did.

And third, who the hell is Rishid and what kind of person is Marik's older sister? How does this Millennium Necklace work?

In the end, I just don't get it.

Even though I have spent years of _oppa_ practically force-feeding me all things Yu-Gi-Oh, to be honest, the only things or people I remember are Yugi Mutou, this white-haired crazy bastard in front of me, and my own conclusion that everything else is bullshit not worth remembering.

So now I'm here, getting all the answers I need from Marik, but then the fact that there are things I couldn't understand at all makes me feel frustrated, especially when that moron keeps on mentioning names of people casually as if I also know them.

I clutched my temples, sensing an upcoming headache.

"Oh dear, oh dear..." I muttered, turning my back to Marik and walking towards my bed.

"Are you okay?" Marik asked in a worried voice. It's quite nice for him to worry about me, but then I thought that he should be since he's one of the reasons for my upcoming headache.

"I'm fine... it's just... I don't know what to do next..."

I sat on the bed and closed my eyes. Now that the adrenaline rush has gone and the burning fire of agitation and anger has already dissipated, the pain that I had been ignoring for some time attacks me in full force. I can't help but lie down on my bed in a fetal position due to extreme pain.

I was not able to pay attention anymore to anything else and see how Marik was doing.

The only one thing I want and need right now is a painkiller. A very strong painkiller, to boot.

_Oppa_, this is all your fault.

...

I think I have gotten some sleep after all the previous drama, as I found myself waking up to the low hum and beeping of some machine. How long that sleep was, I have no idea. I also found that the excruciating pain had already subsided. It felt better though I didn't remember taking any painkillers.

I was about to open my eyes when suddenly I felt fear, bringing me to hesitation.

Deep inside my heart, I was hoping that everything that happened was just a stress-induced nightmare. I was clinging to the only hope that I'd find myself back in the real world and that I would just laugh at myself for thinking that I was transported to a fictional world when it didn't really happen; that finding myself in a two-dimensional version of my room and meeting Marik Ishtar was just a side effect of being struck by a lightning or my brain simply undergoing its own emergency shutdown phase.

It might be difficult for me, but I just have to think positive, right?

I then slowly opened my eyes, hoping for the best...

I found myself laid down on a bed in another _two-dimensional_ "medical" room.

All my hopes were crushed.

For what appeared to be the nth time, I sighed.

I moved my eyes at both sides, checking out my current location.

The room consisted of sea green walls, with a circular window on my right side, which then showed the night sky albeit with a deep fog. Near me, still on my right side, was one of those machines in a typical hospital that checked a patient's vital signs and a few cords happened to connect me to the machine. Also on the same side was a small chair where I saw my uniform and bright orange muffler neatly folded and my wallet (where I usually put my iPhone, calling cards, and identification cards) placed on top of them. I must be wearing a hospital gown then. And seeing my wallet among my other things, the people might have also found a way to know my name (or what they think is my name because hell, they misread it).

Meanwhile, on my left side are two other hospital machines (and I really have no idea what they are or how they work) and the IV dextrose set.

I raised both my hands to check myself out, and found my left hand connected to the dextrose tube and my right hand connected to the machine on the right. I also felt a tube taped on the left side of my mouth, which was making me uneasy. That tube was connected to one of the machines.

Someone thought of giving me a heart attack.

"Ah, Young-hye, thank Ra you're awake."

That moron of a "roommate" called Marik suddenly spoke up, startling me.

I tried looking for him around the room, but no one else was there.

"Marik, where are you?" I asked, albeit mentally, since for some unknown reason I lost my ability to move my mouth and speak.

"Still inside your mind," replied Marik. "Are you now feeling better?"

"Yes, I am..." I was about to continue when I suddenly noticed something about Marik.

He started speaking in Korean the moment I woke up the second time.

"Y-y-you're speaking in Korean! Amazing!" I exclaimed, in English.

"Surprised, aren't you? How did I do?" said Marik.

"Hey, since when did you start learning?" I asked him in Korean, ignoring his previous statement. I felt happy for being able to speak again on my native language. English has always been too exhausting for me especially that it's only my second language and that I don't really do well at that department.

"I became really bored after you dozed off. Since I'm just a guest in your room and I might have to stay a little bit longer, I thought I should learn your language as a way for us to get along. I found some books and materials here to help me learn so I spent the rest of the time studying and practicing," he said.

"Oh, I see. You learn quite quickly as a beginner."

"It's a hidden talent of mine. I do learn and become fluent very quickly when it comes to languages," he said in a matter-of-factly way bordering to arrogance.

I'm starting to wonder how we can get along well when he just keeps on finding ways to annoy me.

"You still have a long way to go," Irritated at his tone, I retorted back at him using the Gyeongsang dialect [2], which our family never got to use again after moving our residence to Seoul from Busan in my final year in middle school. It made me feel good, as I missed speaking the dialect.

Marik suddenly went quiet. Probably he couldn't comprehend what I just said. Though I could not see him right now, I could just imagine his sour expression, and if that's the case, that would really be funny.

After a moment of silence, it seemed like Marik had found a way to recover himself. "Though if I encounter some trouble, we can just return to speaking English, right?" he said in a way as if he was retracting his statement from just a while ago. He returned to using English again.

I was about to reply back but then our little mental chit-chat got interrupted as a female nurse entered the room. Seeing me breathing well and my eyes already open must have made her so surprised that she went to the small intercom near the door and probably paged the medical team immediately after.

A few seconds later, a team of one doctor and three more nurses rushed towards the room. Though I could still see the shock on their faces for seeing me alive with eyes opened, they proceeded to do their work of checking me up on my condition. I could also hear them speaking almost simultaneously in what sounded like the Japanese language.

The shock evident in their faces started freaking me out.

"Hey, was my condition really _that_ bad?" I asked Marik.

"Yes," he simply said.

The same nurse again walked to the intercom near the door to page someone. Moments later, a boy, around 11 or 12 years old, with long black hair (even longer than mine by a few centimeters) and blue gray eyes, entered the room and asked the medical team about something I don't know. The boy looked worried, constantly checking me out as he talked to them.

"That boy is Seto Kaiba's little brother, who you saved from the truck accident back then," said Marik, "I'm not sure of his name, though."

The boy approached me on the left side, saying something I couldn't comprehend due to the language barrier.

I need subtitles!

"He's thanking you, actually," said Marik out of the blue, "I could tell he's all worried as hell. And yeah, now I got to know his name: it's Mokuba."

"Mokuba?" I asked, though in a way that it sounded like a dumb question. In the outside though, I still see the boy talking to me, while I stare at him or at space blankly.

"Yes. He just introduced himself to you."

"Marik, are you actually translating stuff for me?" I asked him in a suspicious tone. Being the crazy bastard that he is, there might be a high cost for it, so might as well ask and make sure before it becomes too late.

"Yes. I can feel your frustration from here. Besides, it's my payment for lodging here."

"Lodging"? Since when did he decide to treat my room as an apartment? Though extremely annoyed by this, I found it more as a pro than a con so I decided not to make a big fuss over it.

Meanwhile, Mokuba suddenly stopped speaking and looked at me quite oddly. Did my mental talking with Marik show on my face? If it did, then he must have thought I'm a rude lunatic.

I realized it's a good thing that I lost my ability to speak, or else I wouldn't have been able to recover myself and cover up the fact that I don't understand a single thing of what he's saying.

I brought my eyes to Mokuba, trying to look as apologetic as I can, hoping that my message of apology reached him.

However, I was not able to fully determine if it worked, as Mokuba suddenly looked at what looked like a pocket watch. Then he quickly waved me goodbye, still saying something I could not comprehend, and left the room. The medical team also left after giving me some final medicine shots.

Now I'm alone again, physically.

"Hey, Marik," I called out mentally, "thanks a lot."

A pause, then... "You're welcome," said Marik. He sounded sorrowful.

I began being concerned by his sudden gloomy tone. What happened? Did it have something to do with what Mokuba had been saying or had just said a while ago?

"Hey, what's up?" I asked him.

"I'm fine..." he said, sounding far from fine.

"Would I be able to see you right now?"

"I'm here."

Marik's voice startled me. I looked towards the direction of his voice (which is on my left) and to my surprise, I saw him sitting on the chair near my bedside, though he looked like a ghost this time.

And he looked desolate.

"What happened?" I asked, sincerely concerned.

Marik let out a heavy sigh. "You won't understand."

As soon as I heard that comment, the concern I have for him instantly vanished.

"Yeah right I won't, moron," I said, totally irked. "I shouldn't have asked you. Gee, I might as well raise a middle finger to help you out a lot. You're welcome." I added in a sarcastic tone.

"Can you just shut up, Young-hye? Please." He almost yelled at me.

What the hell is his problem? I'm actually trying to be nice to him and yet this is what I get?

I just raised a middle finger as my way of saying "fine, whatever."

Marik faded from my sight. I was left alone again.

I couldn't breathe from all this mess. This is just too overwhelming. I need fresh air. I need to find a clever way to get out of this room.

But then sneaking out is way too overrated.

I looked around the medical room, trying to find something that could give me an idea. A small intercom placed on the wall on my right side caught my attention.

The light bulb inside my head lit up. If my guess about its function is right, then I think that this plan might work.

I reached out and pressed the only button of the intercom, hoping that a nurse would come and that the plan would work.

...

A nurse came, but my plan to convince her to let me get out of the medical room failed.

But at least I managed to convince her that the hospital gown I had been wearing was making me uncomfortable, therefore letting me change to my school uniform and bright orange muffler. Somehow, forty minutes of writing in [terrible] English on a small whiteboard just to be able to communicate to the nurse had been worth it.

The nurse also removed the tube connected to my mouth, seeing that I could already breathe well by myself. She also removed the other cables that connected me to the machines, leaving me with only the IV tube connected to the dextrose.

It had been around twenty minutes since the nurse left me in the medical room.

Still seated on the bed, I sighed.

I think I should retract my previous statement that sneaking out is way too overrated.

I'm hesitating at first, but I really need to leave this room and get fresh air. I think I can be more confident now that I am dressed in my uniform.

After a few more moments of hesitation, I stood up and looked for my shoes...

Oh right. I removed my shoes as soon as I entered the apartment back then. How the hell could I walk out with only socks protecting my feet?

I sighed, almost on the verge of giving up and losing confidence. I lowered my head, and as I look down, something caught my attention.

I saw a pair of light blue old-school sneakers near the chair where my uniform was once placed. Though I was glad that I found a pair to wear, I was hoping that it would be the right size.

I took the left one and started finding tags that might give me a clue.

My shoe size is 240 mm (US Size 7). I hope this pair fits right.

After a few moments, I found a clue at the tongue of the shoe. I tried interpreting what was written.

_Women's size: 24 cm_, it said. Converting it to millimeters: _240 mm_.

Hallelujah! Just the right size! I'd really want to thank whoever bought me these shoes, despite being a mystery of who that was and how that person found out my shoe size.

I regained the confidence I just lost a while ago.

I enthusiastically put on the sneakers (it really fit well) and quietly left the medical room along with the dextrose stand.

...

I walked quietly in my normal pace, going along wherever my feet would bring me. I don't know where exactly I am, but it looks like a dark corridor. I do my best not to show it but I'll admit that I'm beyond scared. Nevertheless, I kept on walking until I found a small elevator near the dead end. Wanting to go to the uppermost part, I pressed the up button and as soon as the elevator opened, I immediately entered.

As soon as the elevator door closed...

"Young-hye! What are you doing?"

Marik never failed to startle me.

"Gee, Marik, about time you showed up." I responded in the most deadpan way. I have quite learned how to talk to this idiot without having to open my mouth.

"Do you actually know where are you right now?" Marik is now scolding me.

"No," I gave him a one-word answer, dead set to ignore him and just get fresh air in peace.

"Young-hye, return to the room! What you're doing is dangerous!"

The elevator stopped, and as soon as it opened I went out, finding myself in a short corridor where there was a small metallic staircase.

"Young-hye!" Marik kept on calling me.

Still ignoring him, I went up the stairs, carrying the dextrose stand using my right hand.

"Seo Young-hye! Get out of that place right now! You will get us killed!" Now Marik sounded like my authoritative father who happened to be a high-ranking officer in the ROK Air Force.

Though tempted to retort him back, I restrained myself and ignored him. As I reached the upper end of the staircase, a sliding door automatically opened and I immediately passed through it.

This is more than just fresh air.

The night sky and strong winds greeted me. I immediately secured my bright orange muffler, which was about to be carried away by the wind. I also sensed that the whole place is moving...

Moving?

_Dammit, are we flying?_

"I was about to warn you, Young-hye. This is the Battle Ship. We are around 1000 meters up in the air," said Marik in a I-told-you-so tone. This was one of those times that I was finding it hard to restrain myself. I ended up tightening my grip on the dextrose stand as if hanging on it for dear life.

In front of me was something like an elevated arena, where there are holograms and two people with some sort of an apparatus on their right arms. There are a few more people on the sidelines watching whatever was happening on the arena. As all of their attention are on the event at the arena, no one noticed me enter even with the eye-catching dextrose stand beside me. Despite the sound effects coming from the holograms and the headache-inducing incomprehensible chatter, this is better than being noticed.

Except that it didn't last.

One of the two people on the arena, a woman in a white veil with black hair, blue eyes, and a mysterious aura, turned to my direction and looked at me as if she was expecting me to be there. That actually crept me out.

"Big Sister!" Marik called out, attempting to show himself but for some reason, can't.

_Big sister?_

So this woman is Marik's older sister...

Marik's older sister looked at me apologetically. But the look transitioned into a stare, too long to the point that she already appeared distracted, and that's where the trouble started.

Apparently, everyone noticed her distraction and started looking at the same direction... at me. Among them was Yugi Mutou. Of course, who wouldn't know him? Despite the lack of height for a guy, he practically stood out thanks to his crazy tri-colored hair that happens to scream _anime_ and the big inverted pyramid pendant on a chain that was hanging on his neck.

The eye on the inverted pyramid pendant suddenly lit up as I happened to glance at it. It gave me a feeling that a switch inside my brain was flipped.

"See, I told you to return to the room!" chastised Marik.

Seriously, if his older sister is also annoying like him, I'm seriously going to hate the Ishtars.

As my patience continued to run low, I became absolutely irritated at the stares everyone was giving me that I couldn't help but give a snarky comment. This snarky comment would happen to be the first sentence I'd be saying in this world, but I never thought that it would even bring a surprise to _myself_.

"Hey, is this your first time to see someone walking with dextrose?" In my most deadpan tone, I said this to everyone... in _Japanese._

* * *

Footnotes:  
[1] = Voldemort is the main antagonist of the Harry Potter series. One of the things he is widely known for is the fact that he split up his soul seven times and sealed them into things, animals, or people (known as _Horcrux_) to attain immortality.  
[2] = The Gyeongsang dialect is one of the six regional dialects in South Korea, spoken in the Yeongnam region (the southeastern part). According to the blog _Ask a Korean!_, people from this region "speak with a strong and harsh accent, befitting its stereotype of being the land of manly men... compared to the mild and flat Seoul accent." A known Korean TV drama series that uses the Gyeongsang dialect is _Reply 1997 _(2012).


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh and other things related to the real world. I only own the story and the Seo siblings.

A/N: Hi! You might have been waiting too long for an update already so I apologize for being late. Also, I would like to inform you that the update after this chapter would take a bit longer than this one as a nerve-wracking important event in my student life called thesis defense is already fast approaching. I'm really grateful for your reviews as these had helped and encouraged me a lot despite my apparent lack of skill in writing so if you have any thoughts on this chapter, please don't hesitate to share it by leaving a review. Thank you! And now I present, Chapter 3!

* * *

_**The Fine Line Between**_

**Chapter 3**

_Unlike the teenage girl with the dextrose stand whose expression suddenly changed into horrified bewilderment after speaking rudely to people, Ishizu Ishtar looked at the former in an unfazed way as she expected this to happen according to the Millennium Necklace. Despite that, she still felt relieved to see her younger brother's temporary "host" alive and recovering well, but at the same time she can't help but be sorry for putting into her such a great burden. This burden she had given might be the reason why this teenage girl somehow made the first impression of being rude to the people the latter set her first sight on._

_Either that, or Marik is giving her a hard time._

_Whatever reason it could be, Ishizu chose to be more understanding to the girl whose name she had yet to find out._

_"I'm glad to see you alive and well," she said in her usual calm way, hoping that in this way, she could dispel whatever negative impressions the others had developed._

_Realizing that she had been frozen in her position for too long, Marik's host suddenly gave a small, awkward nod in response as to redeem herself. She quickly walked to the less occupied part of the sidelines (near the place where Marik's evil personality happened to be standing) with her head lowered without looking at everyone else. As soon as she reached that area, she turned to face the night sky, her back now facing the arena and ignoring everything else happening behind her._

I'm really sorry_, Ishizu thought as she saw what looked like a sorry sight,_ but please bear with it for now... I'll definitely win this game not only for Marik but also for you_. She looked at the evil being that took over her brother's body, showing in her face her full determination to destroy the latter._

_"Are you done with your distractions? If you think stalling will get you closer to victory, you're greatly mistaken. There's no way you would be able to escape your defeat." Seto Kaiba, who happened to be Ishizu's opponent, spoke up in arrogance with a great hint of annoyance. He is not really keen of interruptions like these, but after unintentionally seeing the cause of distraction turn her back on the Duel unlike everyone else, he can't help but be curious (though he's really doing a great job of hiding this) of this person who just happened to save his little brother from a grave accident._

_Ishizu remained calm as usual. "I'm not stalling. As I have been telling you, I already saw a vision of your future, especially how you would fall into your demise. In fact, it has just started... you have fallen into our trap... of us Tomb Guardians."_

_"What did you say?"_

_"I shall reveal it right now. Reverse card, open! [1]"_

_A Trap card then reveals itself..._

_"I activate the Trap Card, Reversal of the Worlds of the Living and Dead! [1]" _

...

So, what did just happen?

How in the world did I gain the ability of Japanese language fluency?

And, why am I supposed to be here again?

(A long pause.)

Ah, for fresh air.

And, what the hell are they doing again?

I don't know. _Hell, I don't know._

Or maybe I know but can't remember exactly what. My poor brain has already been fried until golden brown (or maybe even burnt black) ever since coming to this world.

Strange things and events keep on happening. They even continue to pile up, plainly waiting for its turn to happen. The latest among them is how I acquired such ability of fluency in the Japanese language in the "outside".

And it did not help that Marik's older sister even held me up for a few more seconds. Since things happened so suddenly and my brain shut down automatically without any warning whatsoever, I ended up giving an awkward bow and scurrying off as quickly as possible to the less occupied part of the place with only the honest intention of getting fresh air and clearing up my mind in peace. At the same time, I really have to redeem my poor self.

But then how would I be able to do them all if Marik suddenly started screaming at _just the right timing_?

"Of all the places, Young-hye, why do you have to go here? Why here, of all the places! Get out of here right this instant! I mean _right now_! Young-hye! Seo Young-hye!"

Marik kept on shouting this... in what seemed to be a never-ending loop.

Do I really have to get used to this guy annoying me every single time?

I would have to deal with this again without looking like a lunatic on the outside. I have to remain quiet, maintain a deadpan expression, and keep myself away from everyone as much as possible despite the renewed and overflowing agitation inside me.

"Hey! If you can't even tell me what's driving you crazy, can you just spare me from that and fucking shut up?!" I retorted.

"Look at your right!"

"What?"

"Look. At. Your. Right!" He frantically screamed.

Without turning my head, I moved my eyes to take a look.

This is when I realized why he has been panicking.

True enough, without any doubt, it's the Mr. Hyde version of Marik, with the more spiky version of white hair, pupil-less violet eyes (how does he even see things?), a _freaking glowing eye_ on his forehead (I would say Mad-Eye Moody [2] looked _way _better than him), and holding what looked like a horned eyeball skewered on top of a golden rod on his hands.

What the hell was that thing anyway?

Aside from wearing a black top and a cape instead of a white one and _without_ a cape, he seemed to be always wearing this evil grin that would highly encourage me to either break his skull to pieces, throw him off this fucking Battle Ship, or anything equivalent to these actions. He might have looked scary, but he's not really scary enough for me.

And I happened to be standing just a few meters away from him.

"Oh," I responded in an unsurprised, deadpan tone.

I could tell that Marik became beyond pissed off. "Are you this crazy, Young-hye? I have been trying to hide from him and yet you simply walk near the danger zone as if this is nothing?" he said without ever getting rid of his currently ear-splitting voice of his.

Oh, dear Zeus, can you just strike this guy with a lightning bolt (if that would be wake him up)?

"Do you think you could successfully hide yourself in that way?" I shot him back mentally with equal intensity. "If you're really this afraid of him, then go hide yourself in a closet, calm down, and fucking shut up you moron!" I added.

If this continued to keep up, "moron" might already become his pet name.

After a few moments of a pause full of tension, I heard what I thought to be a closet door slamming.

Figures, he really did hide in the closet, if such one ever exists inside my "mind room".

I looked around warily, checking if someone might have witnessed the crazy mental war in case it accidentally manifested outside.

But everyone else was paying attention on the event on the elevated arena.

Good. Now I don't have to worry about looking like a lunatic or not while waging a mental war like this.

To tell you the truth, I just wanted to remove my eyeballs out of my sockets even for a little while, but that would even be a crazy thing in _this _world, right? So instead, I returned to distracting myself by staring in space that is the night sky, not really interested in the events around me.

A young boy's voice saying _nii-sama!_ brought me back to earth. I turned around and saw Mokuba frantically running to the sidelines opposite to my location. There seemed to be a problem, for he looked really worried. But then again, I couldn't fully comprehend what he was worrying about despite the sudden removal of the language barrier. And the word _nii-sama_ sounded foreign to me.

"_Nii... sama_?" I can't help but wonder aloud... still mentally.

After a few moments...

"It's like _hyung-nim _[3]..."

Marik the Dr. Jekyll inside my brain spoke up out of the blue. Saying this in his normal voice, it looked like he had finally calmed down.

"Oh, I see..." I felt like nodding, but couldn't really do it or else I would look like a nutcase.

"It sort of translates to 'honorable elder brother' in Japanese," he explained further, "though what I only read from a material here is that guys may politely call their elder brother _hyung-nim_ instead of the more casual _hyung _[3], but I don't know how you girls do it."

For the first time, I felt happy for Marik, not because he somehow learned my mother tongue quickly but because he finally did not put it in an arrogant way (but that did not mean my patience for him increased... it is still in a dangerously low level).

I think I became more than too glad to offer an answer to his question. "Casually and typically, we call our elder brothers _oppa_, but..." a thought suddenly popped and I couldn't help but laugh at it, "...I'd rather kill myself than call my elder brother _orabeoni_ [3]."

"You have an elder brother?" Marik asked, shocked. I don't know why but he might have probably thought that I was the type who doesn't have an older sibling... or surprised about why I said that last part.

"Ah, yeah. He's also my only sibling," I said, still laughing, "a 22-year old university student who happened to be an avid fan and player of... what's this game again..." I struggled to use my fried brain, "...ah, _Duel Monsters_."

_Duel Monsters._

As soon as those two last words escaped my mouth, the color suddenly drained from my face in sudden realization.

Oh no.

"Awesome!" Marik responded enthusiastically.

_Oh fucking no._

"What's his name?"

I think this is such a random question, one that I won't really expect given my current state.

Why would he want to know?

Oh well...

"Young-woong."

"Ah, Young-woong... I see. I'd like to meet him!" he still maintained his enthusiastic tone.

_Oppa_ would be truly happy to meet you, too. Yeah, I think so.

"Where is he right now?"

Uh, what?

It took a while before that question processed in my fried brain. I then realized that Marik might have been a little too enthusiastic on that part.

"Do you... really want to meet him?" I asked, not wanting to sound redundant but at the same time making sure that I heard it right.

"Yeah," he simply answered. "Is there any problem with that?"

"Ah, none. No problem," I said, trying to act cool while attempting to mask the effects of having a fried brain that was slowly becoming visible, "in fact, he would be happy. He's at home right now... in Seoul... Korea." At home, probably finding someone to lend us a spare TV for his Yu-Gi-Oh marathon needs or finding a new TV to blow up instead of thinking a way to get me out of this world. Great.

I could sense that Marik has grown more enthusiastic than ever. Is he really like that?

Though he is probably not the type to do so, I just hope he doesn't tell me to go there soon. Even though it's feasible in the future, I'm not just exactly looking forward to seeing the Yu-Gi-Oh version of South Korea despite it being my home country.

To my relief, he didn't say that. But then...

"Do you also play Duel Monsters?"

This is just a standard question... just a simple, standard question... or so what I wanted to convince myself into thinking.

"No."

One-word answer would be enough. I hope.

"Too bad."

Too bad? _Too bad?_

Don't I have the right to not play and _dislike_ that fucking game?

I was about to pour my indignation at him when I suddenly heard a high-pitched howling sound similar to a microphone feedback in full volume. It was so eardrum-shattering that I ended up covering my ears and screaming.

What the hell was that noise?

I turned around, only to see things like the skewered golden eyeball glowing its light in different directions (with Mr. Hyde freezing in place) and everyone in a shocked expression, including Marik's older sister who I perceive isn't really the type to be surprised.

I noticed that the noise started at the same time that the skewered golden eyeball started glowing. As the eyeball continued to shine more brightly, the noise also continued to raise its decibel levels to the point that it reached beyond the tolerable threshold. I don't know whether it was only I who can hear this noise or everyone else too but as much as I wanted to maintain my cool, I just can't. As I couldn't take it anymore, I ended up kneeling on the floor so quickly that I felt the tube connecting me to the dextrose remove in a sudden motion. That created a pain on my left hand, a new item added on the list of things that currently torture me. I won't wonder if a bruise would appear soon after.

I experienced approximately three long minutes of pure torture before the eardrum-shattering noise came to an end. My eyes remained closed in fear of getting vertigo as soon as those were opened. I heard quick footsteps (running), getting louder after a short time. I felt small hands come contact with my biceps.

"Are you okay?" I heard Mokuba ask in concern.

I tried to nod and say yes, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. A whimper instead replaced it.

Soon after, more quick footsteps in a growing volume came after. I think more people came running, either to my aid or just out of curiosity.

Different voices are what I heard next, saying things like "what happened?" or "are you alright?"

One of them, a juvenile delinquent-sounding guy, would have also asked normally along with the others, but then he happened to do a newly developed pet peeve, a trigger for me to be violent. That same pet peeve also once sent my white-haired Egyptian buddy to hell.

"What happened? Are you alright... _Hanae_?"

Ironically, the eardrum-shattering noise made my sense of hearing heightened to crazy levels. It was then that I was able to determine the location of the juvenile delinquent-sounding guy. Similar to a knee jerk, I raised my left arm to the direction of that guy and hit him hard in the nose (I think, as I could feel a nose cartilage colliding with my fist) with my eyes closed, not even knowing what this new moron looked like.

I heard a short yelp of pain and a thud right after.

"Jounouchi!" I heard Mokuba exclaim.

"Jounouchi-_kun_!" I heard a frantic and concerned voice that sounded like coming from a timid boy.

"Jounouchi! Are you alright?" This came from a teenage girl (about my age, I guess) who sounded nice but in an uncannily annoying way.

Feeling that the sudden punch somehow reduced my fear of vertigo, I slowly opened my eyes, which then adjusted to the nighttime environment.

I could see around six people in front of me: Mokuba, Yugi Mutou, and four other people (around my age, too) that I don't know. The one I knocked out was apparently a guy who had blonde hair, as I saw him still lying down, nursing his nose. I also came to know that Mokuba was holding my biceps.

While Yugi and the other three gathered around the blonde-haired guy ("Jounouchi," as they call him if my observation ability is still working in good condition), I looked at Mokuba in confusion, who now in turn looked back at me with a horrified expression.

I had been wondering why exactly was Mokuba looking at me in that way, but then the pain on my left hand distracted me... in fact, this might have been the answer to my question.

I then checked out my left hand to confirm this. The knuckle had turned red while the back of my hand looked like housing a gauze tape island in the middle of the navy blue sea that was the bruise that formed.

At the same time, a piercing pain suddenly shot on my head like an ice pick puncturing a watermelon. I felt a hot liquid flow on the right side of my face near the ear. I touched that side as I have to check out what was that. Immediately after, I regretted it.

It was blood.

So this might have been the reason why Mokuba was looking at me like that.

Gee. Thanks, Yu-Gi-Oh universe.

...

_As the Battle City Semi-Finals was coming, Seto Kaiba spent the whole night coming up with strategies on how to defeat the God Cards, especially that he came to understand the hieratic script written in the Winged Sun Dragon of Ra, albeit in a way he still couldn't figure out. But even in the middle of his research work, he still looked out for Mokuba, checking him from time to time on how his younger brother was doing._

_One time then when he checked, he saw Mokuba carefully dressing the head injuries of the new companion whose name, as he discovered from the time his younger brother asked him (and realized that the latter already developed an attachment to her), is not really "Hanae" like how Yugi Mutou and his gang called her, but "Young-hye". After disposing of the old bandages, Mokuba then gave her food to eat, as her dependence to dextrose had cut off. Through how they interact, it looked like they enjoy each other's company._

_Looking at both of them, Kaiba couldn't help but get distracted momentarily as he looked back and thought about the events that happened a while ago._

_Having just won the Duel against Ishizu Ishtar and not wanting to waste more time, Kaiba might have been dead set to leave the arena and ignore everyone altogether, if not for his younger brother Mokuba suddenly running off to the Korean teenage girl with a concerned expression. He had no choice but to stay still at a distance and look out for his brother. Despite her being Mokuba's savior, he did not really have a good first impression of her, as she happened to look like the type who would get along better with the likes of Yugi. As he had expected, his greatest rival along with the peanut gallery_ _followed suit, also approaching her._

_However, Young-hye punching the deadbeat, Katsuya Jounouchi (who he considered to be the other most annoying person of all mankind), squarely on the nose was something he never anticipated. Though surprised at first, he managed to quickly cover it with his trademark smirk. In reality, he became quite impressed by this sole fact despite not really having an idea of why she did that, especially coming from someone who just woke up from a nearly fatal accident-induced coma. Given this situation, he concluded that it was highly likely that she would not get along with them._

_Apparently, Mokuba had also sensed it in the same way. Thus, the former asked him if she could go with the two of them instead. Though not really enthusiastic about having an "intruder", he gave permission for Mokuba, who in turn became more than happy to oblige._

_But then despite Mokuba enjoying her company, Kaiba still has to be careful for his beloved brother's sake._

_When Kaiba returned to his research work soon after, he was so focused at it that he didn't notice that hours had already passed and the computer room had been quiet. The lights had also been turned off at that time. He didn't even notice Mokuba pull the only other chair near him (where his white trench coat was hung) and eventually fall asleep using the trench coat as a blanket. He probably have forgotten that there was another person in the room besides the two of them._

_It was only when he heard shuffling of feet that his senses perked up and took notice of his surroundings. Distracted, he looked around and saw Young-hye standing behind him. She was holding what looked like an elongated touch screen device on one hand and a white cable on the other. Despite standing in front of the computer where he was working, her eyes moved around as if looking for something._

_"What do you want?" said Kaiba, obviously expressing his irritation._

_Usually his tone would make an average person back out in fear, but then Young-hye was unfazed._

_Young-hye didn't like his way of talking, and the fact that her patience was still in a dangerously low level did not help. She only knew this person as Mokuba's older brother (as Mokuba himself told her) but she wondered what exactly is this person's identity and why he would talk to her rudely despite not being technically acquainted to each other. As she did not want to disturb Mokuba, she had to speak in a soft voice despite wanting to launch a yelling war just like what she did with Marik._

_"My phone died on me and I'm looking for a place to charge it," she said in a deadpan tone without a damn care to his irritation. "I don't have its plug with me but then my life depends on it so I would appreciate it if your computer happens to have this kind of socket that this cable required."_

_Kaiba then glanced at the device on her hand. _That is a phone?!_, he thought in disbelief._

_Unfortunately, Young-hye saw him and sensed his disbelief. She took it as an advantage._

_"Ah, is it your first time to see an iPhone?" she asked, her voice still deadpan but with a drip of sarcasm._

_"Shut up," retorted Kaiba. _This girl is obviously testing my patience. Fine, do whatever you want. You'll regret it anyway_, he thought._

_Young-hye looked at the computer screen, of the things he was working on. "_Winged Sun Dragon of Ra_? What the hell is that?"_

_He smirked at this remark of hers. "Hn. Only the chosen ones would ever know the power of the God Cards."_

_Of course it is a given that nobody else except the Quarter-finalists of the Battle City know about the Three God Cards... or so Kaiba thinks. He does not realize that the Korean girl said these sentences not as a question but as a statement of disgust._

_"_God Cards_? Ah yeah, I remember."_

Remember? _Kaiba was surprised. How did this girl know about them, when it was supposed to be a secret to the outsiders?_

_"My older brother would perpetually gush about them in admiration and would tell me nonstop about how these are the most powerful among all those cards... Tsk, so what? Am I supposed to give a damn to that? Good grief. Seriously, for a guy who's way too obsessed about this absolutely stupid game, he's surely driving me crazy..."_

_Of course there would be people who would not really pay attention or care about Duel Monsters and Kaiba was well aware of that, but it was his first time to encounter someone who hates the game with a passion. In his normal state, he might have probably been surprised, but as his patience has already reached its limit and that he happened to be a proud Duelist with most likely the same degree of passion as Young-hye's older brother, he took it as a provocation and as a grave insult, thus losing his temper altogether._

_Kaiba suddenly stood from his seat and faced Young-hye, absolutely infuriated. He was not aware of his own voice rising and his balled fist raised up to his head, as if preparing to hit the girl. "You bitch... how dare you!"_

_Distracted by the noise, Mokuba woke up from his sleep and opened his eyes, only to see this dreadful sight. His eyes widened._

_"_Nii-sama! _Are you going to hit her?!" Mokuba yelled, quite enraged._

_"Mokuba!" Kaiba looked at his younger brother, surprised to see the latter awake... and angry._

_"Seriously, _nii-sama_, are you really going to hit her?" Mokuba can't help but emphasize it._

_It was then that Kaiba became fully aware of himself: with his hand raised in a way as if he was about to hit someone and Young-hye (the obvious target) flinching at it, no wonder it made Mokuba really angry._

_"I wouldn't even be alive if Young-hye hadn't saved me. Yet this is how you would repay her?"_

_Kaiba was truly hurt by Mokuba's remarks. Despite the provocation, he did not really mean to hit her, but Mokuba saw otherwise. In attempt to calm down and at the same time mask his true feeling, he brought down his hand and stormed out of the computer room._

_As soon as his older brother left, Mokuba sighed. He looked at Young-hye apologetically. "I'm sorry, Young-hye. _Nii-sama _is really not like that. I hope you won't look at him in a negative light."_

_Young-hye shook her head and sighed, looking at her iPhone and the charger cable. "I was just finding a place to charge my phone..."_

* * *

Footnotes:  
[1] = Taken from the GX_ST English subtitles of the series.  
[2] = Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody is a character in the _Harry Potter _series. He was first known to be a professor of Defense against the Dark Arts when Harry Potter was in his fourth year in Hogwarts. Mad-Eye is also known for his magical artificial eye.  
[3] = _Hyung-nim_ is how a man formally calls his older brother in Korean, while _hyung _is its casual form. _Orabeoni_ is _oppa_ (if you remember, this is how a woman calls her older brother) in its formal polite form, but then in my opinion, _orabeoni_ is not that used anymore and is mostly heard only on period/historical Korean films and dramas.


End file.
